Danielle Close

I am a very lucky new(ish) mama with a beautiful 11 month old daughter named Maison, and an amazing hustler hubby, Mike. I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and moved to SoCal for college, and never left. I worked in marketing out of college for 8 years - until I left in 2013 to help my husband market and grow his boutique home development firm (@spinnakerdevelopment)

While watching our home development company flourish, I kept my toes in the marketing “water" by working as a freelance producer and stylist for action sports companies such as Vans and Fox Head Inc.

Fast forward to today, I am still working with Spinnaker Development as the head of marketing, as well as producing and styling photo shoots on a freelance basis. Even with all of this work on my plate, I still wanted to create a work/life environment that co-existed. Being a mother is my newest and most exciting passion, and I wanted to be involved in something that included my daughter, Maison. This is when I decided to join 2 amazing mamas (Melissa Rogers & Alli Beauchamp) and open a baby and toddler food kitchen - Love & Puree.

Our baby food kitchen (open for the first official day, yesterday!) is a healthy, organic, locally sourced food kitchen and store for babies and toddlers in the OC area. The girls and I took all of the extensive information we researched while trying to feed our (picky, allergic, messy!) girls and created a concept that would make life easier for all new moms. Our store is not only filled with healthy food options for babies and toddlers in all stages, but we have created an environment where babies and mamas can hang and always feel welcome!

How many kids? Ages?

/ Male / 1 year old

What special skill, talent or gift would you like to give back to the community?

A special skill or talent that I would like to give back to the community is quite simply my experience. As a new mom, I felt a bit isolated while scrolling the internet, trying to figure out how to feed my daughter the best foods, how to make sure she hits her milestones, make sure I give her every opportunity she deserves. Through that I have realized that being surrounded by other mamas who have been through it, who have done the R & D, and who have overcome the hurtles, you learn the most. I hope the community we create, and the service we provide through Love & Puree, we can help mamas meet other mamas, and we can all do this together!

What is your biggest business challenge right now?

My (our) biggest business challenge right now is being new, like BRAND new. While is so exciting to create and execute a concept that we are so passionate about, it is also terrifying! We just don’t know what the future holds and still have so many unknowns: How many customers will we get a day? Will the community will embrace us? Will the babes will love our food? So while all the stars are aligning and the grand opening and first few days have been exhilarating and a lot of hard work, we still have to anticipate what the future holds.

Why do you want to be a part of heymama?

I (embarrassingly) walked into the OC heymama meetup yesterday completely blind. I had never heard of heymama, and didn’t know what I was about to discover! After leaving the meet up, I felt inspired, excited and eager not only to grow my business, but to be a part of a community of amazing (and crazy beautiful) mothers who seem to balance their lives so gracefully.

I would have to say that I would love to join heymama, not only because I would be honored to be part of a group of accomplished mamas, but because I want to continue to be inspired. During the meet up, I met Kelly, who spoke about an obsticle she encountered while working, and that by bringing the heymama community together she was able to find inspiration, ideas and support to overcome her hurtle. I realized how invaluable that must be, and know just how hard it is to come by. I have personally been in situations where this support system would have been amazing, and would love to pay it back - and be a support system to others.